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An investigation into the infected blood scandal, which resulted in more than 40 years of cover-up by politicians, doctors and health officials, resulted in thousands of deaths in the worst treatment disaster in NHS history.
The report found that while children and adults were used as human guinea pigs, patients were deliberately exposed to an unacceptable risk of infection from contaminated blood products.
Delays in responding to the epidemic worsened the toll that affected thousands of people and added to the suffering of survivors and the families of those who died.
Between 1970 and the early 1990s, the NHS gave blood products to more than 30,000 people, including drug users, prisoners and prostitutes infected with HIV and hepatitis C.
Two groups were affected: people with haemophilia and people who received contaminated blood transfusions after giving birth or treatment in the UK.
Inquiry chair Sir Brian Langstaff said the disaster, which killed around 3,000 people and left many more with lifelong health complications, should have been avoided.
“Slow and protracted” government decision-making, combined with a “doctor-knows-best” attitude, has led health authorities to take steps to curb the dangerous use of blood and blood products until it is too late. The report found that no guidelines were issued.
Doctors “lost sight” of what was known about the risk of transmitting the virus from blood, while treatments that could have reduced the risk were not adopted. Patients were denied legitimate choices because they were not informed about the risks of treatment. They were then tested for infectious diseases without their knowledge or consent, and the results were sometimes not known for years.
Some people treated with blood products, including children, were further betrayed as “research subjects” to be used in medical trials without their knowledge or informed consent. Sir Brian said the reactions of successive governments, the NHS and medical professionals have only made the damage worse.
“To save face and expense, successive governments have refused to accept responsibility and have shown little interest in uncovering the truth, listening to those infected, and taking action,” he said. . “Successive governments claimed that patients received the best medical care available at the time and that blood tests were introduced at the earliest opportunity. Both claims were false.”
The report, which analyzed the overall NHS and government response, said: This does not mean that a small number of people are planning an organized conspiracy to mislead, but in some ways it is more sophisticated, more widespread, and in that sense more gruesome. be. ”
Sir Brian said many of those infected were left not only to deal with the effects of the initial infection, but also to embark on a decades-long fight for the truth alongside their families. He said thousands of families across the UK were still feeling the physical and mental pain, stigma and grief.
“Those who survive are deprived of years of healthy living and of hopes and aspirations that others took for granted. The lives of those around them, including their partners, families, and children, are also fundamentally changed. ” he says.
Victim infected with HIV says ‘we have the best treatment’
The final report was seven years in the making and spans over 2,500 pages in seven volumes. Among its key findings is that UK blood services are failing to ensure donor selection and screening of UK blood donors is sufficiently rigorous to exclude high-risk donors. Despite knowing the risks, authorities continued to collect blood from prisons until 1984.
For both HIV and hepatitis C, testing of donated blood was not introduced as quickly as possible in the UK, and alternative screening methods that could have been used before these tests were available were also not adopted. did.
Blood transfusions were frequently performed in situations where there was no clinical need, and no alternatives to blood transfusion were used. Patients were not warned about the risks of blood transfusions, and records of blood transfusions were not kept when they should have been.
Commercial component products (blood products that were imported to treat many people with bleeding disorders and caused great harm) were unsafe and should not have been approved for use in the UK.
This harm to those infected and affected was compounded by the response to the epidemic, including the government’s and NHS’s repeated and continued failure to admit that patients should not have been infected.
The government also repeatedly used inaccurate and misleading lines of defense, including cruelly telling people they were receiving the best possible treatment. Also, some documents were deliberately destroyed and many others were lost.
Medical records were destroyed and payments were delayed.
The destruction and disappearance of medical records caused both real hardship and “grave anxiety” for infected people and their families, the report said.
Many people struggled to prove they were infected, causing great mental strain in addition to physical illness. While some NHS Trusts have been helpful, in others victims have faced significant delays in finding their records and have experienced a ‘justifiable sense of unfairness’, or in many cases ‘unauthorized deletion of records; Suspicions of destruction or concealment remain.
Other failures include decades of refusing to provide compensation and relying instead on ex-gratia schemes, which are under-prepared, under-funded and do what is best for infected people. It didn’t work to my benefit. Sir Brian said successive governments were primarily to blame, although other governments were also partly responsible.
Rishi Sunak is set to apologize for the Commons disaster on Monday, but Sir Brian said an apology must be accompanied by action to be meaningful. He called for national recognition of this scandal and prompt reparations, as well as implementation of the inquiry panel’s recommendations to change the culture and practices of the NHS and civil service.
Ministers in other countries affected by the scandal have also been hauled into court, although the hearings are prohibited from making recommendations regarding prosecution.
“That disaster was no accident.”
Sir Brian said: “More than 30,000 families across the UK have contracted the infection and their lives have been shattered while being treated by the NHS. “Already 3,000 people have died and the number continues to rise every week. It’s increasing,” he said. Lives, dreams, friendships, and finances were destroyed.
“That disaster was no accident. The infection occurred because those in power – doctors, blood services, and successive governments – failed to put patient safety first. The response of those in power was to stop people from suffering. This resulted in further deterioration.
“The government rightly accepts that compensation must be paid. It is now time for national recognition of this disaster and appropriate compensation to all those who have been wronged.”
Ministers have already announced that both surviving victims and relatives of the deceased will receive significant compensation through the newly established Infected Blood Compensation Authority.
The Treasury is said to have already set aside at least £10bn in compensation and is expected to win support from Labor. This includes not only those infected by contaminated blood, but also affected people such as siblings, children, and parents.
A gruesome cover-up that lasted for decades: Horrifying findings
- A combination of ‘slow and protracted’ government decision-making and a ‘doctors know best’ attitude has led health authorities to issue guidance to curb dangerous use of blood and blood products until it’s too late I didn’t
- Doctors “lost track” of what was known about the risk of transmitting the virus through blood, as treatments that could potentially reduce the risk were not adopted.
- Patients were not informed about the risks of treatment, were tested for infectious diseases without their knowledge or consent, and were kept in the dark about the results for years.
- Some people, including children, treated with blood products have been further betrayed by being used as “research subjects” in medical trials without their knowledge or informed consent.
- The report states that successive governments have “claimed that patients received the best medical care available” and that “blood tests were introduced at the earliest opportunity”, adding that “neither claim is true”. Says.
- The destruction and disappearance of medical records caused both real hardship and “grave anxiety” for infected people and their families – many struggled to prove they had been infected.
- The report analyzes the overall response of the NHS and government and says: That means there was. This does not mean that a small number of people are planning an organized conspiracy to mislead, but in some ways it is more sophisticated, more widespread, and in that sense more gruesome. be. ”